Introduction

Samizdat, in Russain, self-publishing; this means publish without permission of the authority. Samizdats are the products of reproducing those censored books within the Soviet Union border or even foreign books that did not benefit the government.

This exhibit focuses on ОПТИМА (OPTIMA), a manuscript journal with portray. Optima was a translation, combining Polish works and articles. It was produced by a group of students using typewriters from the evening courses of the philological department at Leningrad State University, in Saint Peterburg, Russia. Optima was published by this group of students without permission; as a result, it was banned in the Soviet Union (former Russia) by the authority.